MOVIE REVIEW - Footloose

It's thirty years later and there's a whole new generation or two of people that have never seen the original Footloose. So they decided to make a new version that will "wow" a younger crowd. You have to admit, the original does look a bit dated in about every regard. So the idea seems sound.

But it's really not. Footloose 2011 still has the same basic problem that the original has. It simply has no relevance whatsoever. Maybe even more so now because to the state of the world and the economy today. You may remember, we are supposed to feel badly that these teens in a South Georgia small town are not allowed to dance because of an overreacting city council that outlawed it after a terrible car accident that killed 5 teens on the way home from a dance.

But the sad reality is, you just don't care. You don't care about this uptight town, these teens that think they run the world, or any single character here. You don't like the people in charge, or the bratty teens. It was a bad formula then, and it's even more amplified in today's version. The story is still silly.

This version supposedly is a coming of age as an actress movie for Julianne Hough. And to be fair, she's OK. But I emphasize, OK. She holds up her end as well as the story will let her. But there is a fatal flaw in this performance that has nothing to do with her personally. She barely dances. In fact, there is not a whole lot of dancing in this movie till the end. And some of the dance scenes are so ridiculously silly, it's almost laughable. Especially a scene at a drive-in theater where about 1,000 teens all break into dance at once. Yeah, that happens. Works in musical theater, not here.

They also drag Dennis Quaid, and Andie MacDowell along for this ill-conceived remake. I like both of them usually, but Quaid is completely miscast as a southern pastor bent on making teens behave. And MacDowell? I think she says about 10 lines in the entire movie.

But there are a few things positive worth noting. They do keep it as much to the original as they can. And I'm good with that- shallow story and all. The soundtrack has been updated nicely and has some slick versions of some of the original songs. There is some really impressive dancing in the last 5 minutes or so. And overall this movie, although shallow and nonsensical is pretty tame and harmless. If you just have to go to a teen dance flick, could be your cup of tea. Although this pales in its dancing by a long shot to many of the more modern dance flicks of the past few years.

Footloose 2011. A a thuddy, dud.